Adam_glass

Lake Central: Undoubtedly Kyle Ayersman. Three time state champ (2010, 2011, 2012) and took third in 2009. 193-2 overall career record and I believe a four time Al Smith finalist with three titles.

Torturing the state for years to come. As an Avon man if you had to ball park it how many ISWA titles do you think that family has?

How many medals and honors does this family have? I know there are I believe two younger Rioux’s as well? What this family has done is nothing short of incredible. Off the top of my head, Eight state medals, five finals appearances, and now a state title. Props to them, finally bringing that title home

Looked so solid against Huyvaert, but Doster was ready

My Goat Emilio Tirado beats #13 Mavros in SV to advance to State!!!

Is it just me or was Noah Weaver ranked nationally on flo’s rankings for a little while back around October? I swear I remember seeing an Indiana guy ranked at 190 and it being Noah Weaver around like 17th

Totally forgot 144, I think Walker is too much for a talented Baca to chew. So this drops my predicted qualifiers for CP down to 11. Baca, Sessa, and Kaptur all falling in the ticket round

Me too, I always love to see the region guys succeed. At his best he’s definitely an all American, and I think he returns to form come big tens. I feel like the weight cut is tough in him

I just wanted to give a little appreciation post for Christian White here. This is a guy who his junior year placed 6th at state and then his senior year lost in the ticket round, and now he is stepping in and winning big ten matches. As a Purdue student I’m a big fan of the wrestling team and I go to most of the events and this dude is wrestling at a high level. He pushed Indiana’s ranked grad student Fongaro to the end and almost had the takedown in the last seconds for the win. Sunday he stepped into the varsity roster and caught a Big ten win. He’s wrestling at a National qualifier level even though he didn’t make it to state his senior year, and that is seriously impressive. He’s earned his flowers

Hard not to like the White brothers; home grown talents who stuck with it and broke the loaded Crown Point rosters. Kaptur vs Smith will be one of the best ticket round matches this weekend in my opinion

I can’t see CP qualifying all 14, I think they get 12 or 13. At 175 I think White is pretty underrated; he’s very solid and has a good draw. He also has a win over a red hot and very dangerous Jesse Derringer, which is I think a more impressive win than he got credit for. If I were in charge of the rankings, I’d probably have him at fifth in this semi state field. I see him punching his ticket. The weight I think most stands in the way of CP getting 14 is 132. Guillermo has multiple wins over Sessa and has the state experience, and I can’t see him losing to Sessa. Also, at 150 I think Kaptur will struggle against Smith. I think Kaptur is very good on top but Smith is a bull on his feet and I think that ends up being the difference in their ticket round match. In the end, I see CP with 12, with non-qualifications at 132 and 150

I did this more as a stream of consciousness, so I apologize if it’s a little incoherent and if there are some grammatical errors, but I thought this was something important I wanted to get out there

I think it’s important now that the season is nearing its zenith to address one of the most important issues that I think goes under talked around this time, which is the hard working kids who lose at semi state. Obviously, we should celebrate those who make it to state. That is the goal of almost every high school wrestler, to be among the best in the state and compete in the best venue in all of Indiana. But inevitably, most wrestlers Sunday will not end up advancing to the state tournament. And I think it’s important that we address how to support the kids that lose, especially the seniors who will possibly wrestle their very last matches on Saturday. Last year as a senior, I went into my season with high expectations. For three years straight, I went to everything. My high school coaches could tell you I was person who missed the least practices. I showed up to everything; morning practice, optional practice, summer open mats, I even went to RWA three days a week and trained at my coaches own gym in order to build up my strength and conditioning. I felt like I was one of the hardest working, toughest people in the state. In middle school at my first off-season tournament I suffered a concussion. My freshman year I broke my left elbow and had to get screws out in, which I still have to this day. Junior year I dislocated my rib wrestling freestyle, and over the summer I suffered severe second degree burns which caused most of the epidermis on my back to slough off. But still, I worked through it all because I felt like if I didn’t I wasn’t being the best wrestler I could. Going into regionals of senior year I broke the scaphoid bone in my wrist, and couldn’t press down or grip my right hand for the rest of season. I felt like all of this only contributed to me being a tougher wrestler on the mat. And even with all of that, I got completely out wrestled at semi state. My broken wrist meant nothing, I did not live up to my potential and didn’t wrestle my best, and that’s why I lost. For at least a month after semi state I was completely in the dumps. It’s like I had a rain cloud overhead, I felt like my career meant nothing. It was over, and I didn’t accomplish what I wanted to. No matter what people said to me, it really didn’t ease the fact that I felt completely empty. I also felt angry. I felt so angry that I had teammates who put in way less practice time than me, who didn’t show up to half the things I did, and yet still advanced farther than I did. I wasn’t angry at them, though, I was angry at myself. I was angry because I felt like that there was something that I must have missed, some piece of the puzzle that despite all my hours I just couldn’t get. And that made me really hate myself for a few weeks. Our sport is so much more draining mentally than it is physically, and for those seniors who lose at semi state, it can really knock your happiness down a few notches for a quite a while. So coaches and parents, if you have a wrestler whose career comes to an end this Saturday, it’s important to not look at their whole career under a microscope and appreciate the whole journey. You got to participate in the toughest sport in the world, you were able to make it to semi state, which while not a particularly impressive accomplishment, still means that likely hundreds of hours of hard work went into that qualification. It’s okay to feel upset, but don’t let it hang over your life. You worked hard, and you did something that most wrestlers in the state didn’t. And to those who have more years, never stop grinding. Embrace it, and make sure to have fun with it. When the sport is fun, you do better. You can make it to state, but you can’t take your foot off the gas. I love wrestling, so so much. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done, and something I plan on continuing even though I’m not on a college team. I’m so grateful to the sport and my coaches for making me the man I am today, and for teaching me such invaluable life lessons. And I think loving the sport is really what’s so important. If you were able to make an athlete fall in love with the sport, with the process, then you succeeded as a coach. If you support your kids and help them foster that love, then you succeeded as a wrestling parent. The lessons athletes learn from wrestling are some of the best life lessons you can learn, and when you are able to fall in love with the sport, these values are only engrained deeper. So to those seniors out there, wrestle your hearts out. Don’t be afraid to lose, don’t be afraid to score points. Leave it all on the mat and put your name in the history books. And to those seniors who worked so hard and end up coming up short, it will suck. But you’ll live. You’ll be okay. And I think that, even if you lose at semi state, if you managed to fall in love with the sport, then it was all worth it in the end. We are all apart of something amazing, and wrestling is absolutely the greatest sport ever. Fall in love with it, and wrestle your hearts out.

This sucks to hear, hope he’s able to recover and come back better. Kid is a baller

A theoretical one that could happen out of East Chicago: Lake Central’s Guillermo Rivera won a regional title, Sonny Sessa took 2nd, and Penn’s Vargo medically forfeited to fourth. Unlikely but a potential Guillermo could have Vargo as a first round match then Sessa in the ticket round. Would be an insanely talented semi state quad, but Guillermo would make it through